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Saturday, April 14, 2012

M is for Mai Tai - A to Z Challenge

When
people visit our house for the first time, they all want to see the tiki bar.
We have a little bar in the corner of our second floor. We’ve decorated it with
a few tiki signs and prints, a vintage spaghetti lamp, and a bunch of tiki mugs
and glassware.

Believe
me when I tell you, my little bar is nothing compared to some other home tiki bars!

TIKItten - Lunaperched on our big tiki

My
friend, Tiki J, got me into the tiki thing. The entire bottom floor of her
house is all dimmed, thatched, retro-ed, vintaged, and totally tiki-ed out! It
is amazing!

Now,
you might be wondering what exactly tiki is… you’ve seen those plastic idol
cups at Party City, but can’t imagine what’s so special about that. Wiki sums
it up much better than I can: “Tiki culture is a 20th-century theme used in Polynesian-style
restaurants and clubs originally in the United States and then, to a lesser
degree, around the world. Although inspired in part by Tiki carvings and
mythology, the connection is loose and stylistic, being an American kitsch form and not a Polynesian fine art form.”
You can find the rest of the article here.

Let
me introduce you to my favorite tiki cocktail, the Mai Tai. If you’ve ever
ordered one of these and received something pink or red, something containing
orange or pineapple juice, you haven’t had a real Mai Tai.